Hoorah for British music! The London-based Italian violinist Alfredo Campoli was the pundits’ darling during the 1950s, though apparently not liked by the BBC, who snobbishly recalled that he had headed popular Palm Court orchestras between the wars. To remind us what the fuss was about, Eloquence has reissued six double-CD volumes of Campoli’s Decca recordings. It was his performance of the Elgar Concerto that brought the critics around (Volume 5). It is lovingly played and deeply felt, and has the added advantage of dyed-in-the-wool Elgarian Adrian Boult on the podium. The coupling is Bruch’s Scottish Fantasia, and two works by Arthur Bliss: Theme and Cadenza for Violin and Orchestra, and (more significantly) the taxing Violin Concerto that Bliss composed specifically for Campoli. These two selections are conducted by the composer himself.

ReissuesAlfredo Campoli

Two volumes of encores in the Campoli series sound rather like 1920s tea-room fare – Lady Grantham would approve –...